The seasonal rain has been particularly unkind to residents along Flemyng Road in Bury St Edmunds, where grass verges along the pavement are showing significant signs of wear and tear.

While the verge outside one house has suffered worse than most, with a stretch of unchecked mud measuring more than ten metres, it is a similar tale for other verges in the road that bear tyre marks and shallow puddles.

A spokesman from Suffolk County Council said: “We’re currently investigating the damage caused to the verge and will explore our options to resolve the issue.

“In the meantime, residents in the immediate area will be contacted about the use of vehicles on the verge.

“We’d like to take this opportunity to ask members of the public to think twice about parking on grass verges, especially at this time of year when the ground is so wet and verges can be so easily damaged.”

One resident living nearby has taken the issue to the town’s county councillors, saying the verge had been turned into a “muddy rutted quagmire”.

He added: “It was not too many years ago that council spent time and money reinstating verges. Green space in towns is there for a purpose of both visual and ecological reasons, to help absorb/convert vehicle exhaust pollution.

“If every household behaved like this throughout the borough we would loose mile upon mile of green verge.

“If a building firm undertook construction works, part of the construction approval would be to reinstate footpath and verge destruction, yet households like this are getting away with it.”

There was no answer at the house yesterday.

One neighbour described it as an “eyesore” but said it was understandable given the time of year and that the house had recently undergone a lot of building work.

Another neighbour said the county council had written to them a few months ago about the issue, but had taken no further action since.

They added: “It would be nice if they were all nice and green and whatever, but what else are you supposed to do? You can’t control the weather.”